Windows Phone App Review: WpFandora

WpFandora is a unofficial Pandora client for your Windows Phone. The app comes in two versions, a free ad-supported version and a $2.99 ad free version (WpFandora Pro). The music app is laid out nicely and as long as Pandora doesn't break their public API, the app ran smoothly.

I'm not a big Pandora user but WpFandora came across as a simple, easy way to channel your Pandora stations to your Windows Phone. WpFandora is definitely worth trying if you are looking for a Pandora client for your Windows Phone.

WpFandora is spread out across three pages. You have pages for your Pandora stations, to show what's playing and a search page. Throughout WpFandora you have button controls at the bottom to report bugs in the app and to contact the developer on suggestions for the app.

The three-dot menu pulls up your settings, a refresh command for the stations and the about screen. Settings is solely your Pandora login information.

Your Stations Page reflects the stations you have created through Pandora directly or from WpFandora. Just tap/hold the individual station to play, delete or pin the artist to your Start Screen.

The Playing screen has an album cover thumbnail to illustrate the artist playing and a row of button controls down the right side of the screen. The buttons allow you to skip the song, rate the song with thumbs up, ban the song, and pull up the artists information via Pandora and Internet Explorer. The next song to be played from that particular station appears beneath the album cover.

I'm not a real big Pandora user but WpFandora comes across as a simple, easy way to pull Pandora on to your Windows Phone. I did experience a few app crashes when tinkering with WpFandora. Not enough to make you want to pull your hair out but enough to be noticed. WpFandora is a work in progress so minor glitches aren't that big a shocker. The developer is working constantly on improving things and is open to suggestions that may improve his app.

All in all, if your looking for a Pandora client for your Windows Phone, WpFandora is worth a try. You can find the free, ad-supported version of WpFandorahere and the $2.99 ad free WpFandora Pro can be found here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Does anyone know why this app (the paid version) needs access to Location? Is it required by the Pandora API?
I looked for the contact info for the Dev's - as this would be a better question to ask them. However I couldn't seem to find it. Perhaps I just haven't had enough coffee this morning.

Can you please help me? I have a Nokia Lumia 710 windows phone. My fandora was working and then all of a sudden stopped work about 3 weeks ago. I have uninstalled and reinstalled several times and it is stuck on logging in. I paid for the good version and want it to work. Can you help please? I really love this app.
Sincerely,
Gretchen Hora

@redpixel
It might be for the ads, especially if they are using the Microsoft Ad SDK - I'm pretty sure that requires Location access, though whether it is used is up to the developer (and the user should be prompted in-app if that is the case).

@Chief7-my husband got a new Windows 7.5 phone and downloaded this app. As he had his bluetooth on, listening to music, he pushed paused to send a verbal text and as soon as the text sent, the music automatically turned back on without him hitting play. So he turned the bluetooth off and the music started playing out of the speakers on his phone. We can't seem to figure out how to shut the app down to turn the music off without uninstalling it. Any suggestions? Hope this make sense.

On my Lumia 900 I am having the same issue. Under 'settings' I attempt to sign in and it says 'logging in' but never fully logs in. I have a Pandora Pro account, and my account works fine on my PC. The program looks awesome, dying to try it on my phone. Help!!!

Just emailed Pandora and here is what they wrote. Thanks for your interest in having Pandora on Windows Phone 7. We are not developing an app at this time, but we will definitely keep it in mind while planning our product priorities for the future.

With that said, unauthorized third-party applications violate our Terms of Use and we want to ensure that every listener is getting the best experience. So we are out of luck. It's apparant they don't care as much for there customers.

It was working on my Nokia Lumia 710 for about 3 weeks, but doesn't work anymore. I have uninstalled and reinstalled several times and get stuck at the login too. HELP! I paid for the pro version! I really loved it when it worked.:-D